75 U.S.-trained Syrian rebels enter Syria from Turkey
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Seventy five Syrian rebels trained by the United States and its allies to fight ISIS have entered northern Syria since Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.
Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, said the rebels had crossed into Syria from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
with 12 vehicles equipped with machine guns.
A top U.S. general told Congress on Wednesday that only four or five Syrian rebels trained under the programme aimed at fighting ISIS were still fighting in Syria.
The U.S. military began training in May for up to 5,400 fighters a year, in what was seen as a test of President Barack Obama
I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody ...
's strategy of having local partners combat Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
snuffies and keep U.S. troops off the front lines.
He said the group had entered in a convoy of a dozen cars with light weapons and ammunition, under air cover from the U.S.-led coalition that has been carrying out strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
According to the Observatory, the rebels crossed through the Bab al-Salama border point, the main gateway for fighters and supplies heading into Aleppo province. That supply route has been increasingly targeted by IS jihadists seeking to cut off support to rival rebels.
Abdel Rahman said the newly-trained fighters have deployed to support two U.S.-backed units, with most assigned to Division 30 -- the main unit for U.S.-trained fighters -- and others to a group called Suqur al-Jabal (Falcons of the Mountain).
The $500 million U.S. programme run out of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey has been fraught with problems, with than a dozen of those already deployed with Division 30 either killed or kidnapped by Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, Al-Nusra Front.
Posted by: Fred 2015-09-21 |